The Dartmoor Way is a superb circular trail that sweeps around Britain's most southerly National Park linking attractive moorland, hamlets, villages and towns along its length. The route avoids the wild expanses of the High Moors and concentrates on the moorland fringe of lush river valleys, ancient clapper bridges, steep-sided, thickly wooded gorges, tumbling streams, leafy lanes, meadows, hedgerows, pretty villages of thatch and granite and rolling downland studded with fantastic wind hewn tors of granite. The route passes through several historic moorland towns including Chagford, Moretonhampstead, Okehampton, Tavistock and Ashburton; visits many charming villages such as Sticklepath, Sourton, Peter Tavy, Holne, North Bovey and Lydford, an intriguing village dominated by its sturdy medieval courtroom and prison; and discovers a wealth of historical sites ranging from prehistoric settlements and monuments to Norman castles, medieval crosses, tin-mine workings, silver-lead mines and abandoned quarries.

Wild ponies roam freely across the moors. Bird life includes buzzard, kestrel, grouse, skylark, raven, wheatear, dipper and heron. Otters inhabit the moorland streams and rivers with their plentiful stocks of trout and salmon.